Posted on Sep 4, 2022
Kansas City will see less of this City Market vendor and his elephant garlic
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Craig Hansen has been selling his elephant garlic at the City Market for nearly 20 years. But with his retirement and plenty of sales closer to his home in Webb City, he won't be coming to Kansas City as often.
Early in the morning, when the sun has barely risen over the City Market, Craig Hansen of Hillside Farms is already hard at work prepping and bagging his elephant garlic when customers start beelining to his stand.
For almost two decades, he’s been driving the two and a half hours from Carthage, Missouri, to the market to sell his garlic, which can be two to three sizes larger than regular garlic.
“The best part about the market is engaging with people,” said Hansen. “People walk by my stand and if they kind of glance at my table, I'll invite them to smell the garlic. If I get them to smell it, about one out of three will buy it. About half my sales on a given day are people who I catch new and others are people that are coming back for more garlic.”
Early in the morning, when the sun has barely risen over the City Market, Craig Hansen of Hillside Farms is already hard at work prepping and bagging his elephant garlic when customers start beelining to his stand.
For almost two decades, he’s been driving the two and a half hours from Carthage, Missouri, to the market to sell his garlic, which can be two to three sizes larger than regular garlic.
“The best part about the market is engaging with people,” said Hansen. “People walk by my stand and if they kind of glance at my table, I'll invite them to smell the garlic. If I get them to smell it, about one out of three will buy it. About half my sales on a given day are people who I catch new and others are people that are coming back for more garlic.”
Kansas City will see less of this City Market vendor and his elephant garlic
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel Interesting article... Chip, have you used any?
..."Due to the high demand for his garlic, Hansen and his family limit how many bulbs they keep for themselves. Still, if they catch him at the right time, he’ll often give customers recipes and tips on how to use it at home.
“I have customers that buy more garlic than we eat in our house,” he said. “So I know there are people that use it quite heavily, yeah, in their diets.”
He doesn’t have the largest stand to sell from, but his pickup holds hundreds of pounds of garlic. And as the City Market’s primary seller of the bulb, plenty of people seek him out.
“I don't know why other people aren't growing it but they're not, so this is my niche,” Hansen said.
At one point, Hansen grew 13,000 bulbs of garlic — more than he could sell direct-to-consumer. But these days he’s planting less, and after this season he’s winding down his sales in Kansas City.
Hansen retired from the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services last year and also sells at the Webb City Farmers Market closer to home.
“I can easily sell my entire stock in Webb City and never even come back to Kansas City,” he said. “But I like this market, I have a lot of loyal customers here — I’m not gonna ditch 'em.”
But the Labor Day weekend was his last at the market this year.
Though he’ll no longer rent a regular spot, he still plans to come up a few times next year with enough garlic in tow to hold everyone over.
Hansen doesn’t know exactly what weekends he’ll make the drive to Kansas City, but he’s promised to keep his loyal fans updated through the Hillside Farm Facebook page.
“I would be sad if I wasn't coming at all, so I'm coming enough to satisfy my appetite to be in Kansas City,” he said. “I think three or four times a year would be good.”
..."Due to the high demand for his garlic, Hansen and his family limit how many bulbs they keep for themselves. Still, if they catch him at the right time, he’ll often give customers recipes and tips on how to use it at home.
“I have customers that buy more garlic than we eat in our house,” he said. “So I know there are people that use it quite heavily, yeah, in their diets.”
He doesn’t have the largest stand to sell from, but his pickup holds hundreds of pounds of garlic. And as the City Market’s primary seller of the bulb, plenty of people seek him out.
“I don't know why other people aren't growing it but they're not, so this is my niche,” Hansen said.
At one point, Hansen grew 13,000 bulbs of garlic — more than he could sell direct-to-consumer. But these days he’s planting less, and after this season he’s winding down his sales in Kansas City.
Hansen retired from the Children’s Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services last year and also sells at the Webb City Farmers Market closer to home.
“I can easily sell my entire stock in Webb City and never even come back to Kansas City,” he said. “But I like this market, I have a lot of loyal customers here — I’m not gonna ditch 'em.”
But the Labor Day weekend was his last at the market this year.
Though he’ll no longer rent a regular spot, he still plans to come up a few times next year with enough garlic in tow to hold everyone over.
Hansen doesn’t know exactly what weekends he’ll make the drive to Kansas City, but he’s promised to keep his loyal fans updated through the Hillside Farm Facebook page.
“I would be sad if I wasn't coming at all, so I'm coming enough to satisfy my appetite to be in Kansas City,” he said. “I think three or four times a year would be good.”
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